Mexico

This catalogue accompanies the exhibition presented at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation from 14 February to 23 April 2023, which offers an original dialogue between the Mexican photographs of Helen Levitt (1913-2009) and those of Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004).

The two photographers met in New York in the spring of 1935. Henri Cartier-Bresson had just spent almost a year in Mexico and the American photographer had just begun to photograph the New York street. In 1941, fascinated by the images of the Frenchman, Helen Levitt chose the same destination. These two trips to Mexico proved decisive at the beginning of their long careers, with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Helen Levitt forging their respective conceptions of photography. Based on the collections of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation and Helen Levitt’s archives, represented by the Thomas Zander Gallery (Cologne), this exhibition presents some sixty prints by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Helen Levitt, as well as documents recounting the two photographers’ respective journeys to Mexico.